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Alumna Student-Athlete Rejoicing in 'Life After the Game'

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Lighting The Way: Christina (Forsyth) Drake, a 2002 electrical engineering alumna, is a team leader helping Carmel, Ind.-based Midcontinent Independent System Operator bring energy across the U.S. and Canada.

Lessons learned as a student-athlete have turned into career success for alumna Christina (Forsyth) Drake. That's why she is being featured in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Life After the Game series about former collegiate student-athletes who are making positive impacts across the globe, in their communities, and in their professions - enhanced by their academic and athletic experiences.

Drake, a 2002 electrical engineering graduate, was inducted into the Rose-Hulman Athletic Hall of Fame for her basketball achievements during her four years as a starting player in the early years of the women's basketball program. A success in the classroom as well; she received awards for academic dean's list and athletic academic honor roll.

"Protect your dream, work for it and fight for it," the Lyons, Ind., native told the NCAA in a video interview. "You can overcome obstacles, injuries, failed tests, retaking the tests, to acing with A's and making the dean's list. It is all possible, but you have to work for it and protect your dream."

Teamwork, goal-setting and determination have helped Drake in her career as an operations engineer with Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), a nonprofit organization that provides and monitors high-voltage energy transmission to 42 million households in 15 U.S. states and Canada's Manitoba province. She joined the organization shortly after graduation in 2002 and was promoted to reliability coordinator in 2006, becoming the first woman in the company to hold the position.

Drake currently leads a team that improves processes to ensure smooth operations in MISO's control room in Carmel, Ind.

"I've been pretty successful in my career, but it's great to do that with people and the connections that you make," she told NCAA.com. "I'm very results driven, but I've come to learn that results are built off the backs of people. If you want to do something great-do it with a team."

For her own case, Drake was a major contributor to Rose-Hulman women's basketball teams from 1998-99 to 2001-02, ranking fifth in school history for career points (1,223 ), with an average of 13.7 points per game, sixth for career rebounds (614), and fourth for career free throws (333). She started 80 of the 89 games she played during her four-season career and earned second-team all-conference honors in 2002.